Raphael Shore Founder & CEO

Jerusalem U

Raphael Shore, a Canadian native now living in Israel, founded Jerusalem U, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making young Jews proud of their heritage and emotionally connected to the Land of Israel, in 2009.

To do this, Shore has developed a wide range of engaging programs such as social entrepreneurial leadership programs, film-based education, Israel education programs, webinars, interactive online classes and more. He has brought together some of the Jewish world’s leading educators to impart lessons on Israel and Judaism including Professor Alan Dershowitz, Sir Martin Gilbert, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Malcolm Hoenlein, Natan Sharansky and others.

The programs Shore started include: Step Up For Israel, Jerusalem U Israel Gap Year Program, Israel Inside U and JU Max. He also pioneered online film courses such as Cinema: The Jewish Lens, The Israel Course, Habits of Happiness, Israel Inside/Out and Judaism 101. These programs and courses target different audiences, ranging from summer camps to upper schools, religious schools, college students, synagogues, communities and individuals.

Raphael Shore’s newest endeavor, CORE18 Leaders Lab, launched in January 2014. With the goal of empowering Jewish social innovation, this high-profile fellowship for young Jewish leaders underscores the importance of self-development, Jewish wisdom, entrepreneurship, networking and leadership skills. Ultimately, the initiative is designed to spur new initiatives to inspire and strengthen the Jewish People. Hundreds of candidates applied for the 36 fellowship positions.

Since Shore founded Jerusalem U in 2009, the organization has partnered with over 350 organizations, 17 Jewish Federations, educated some 5,500 college students from over 300 campuses, and is responsible for over 200,000 hours of Jewish and Israel learning.

Films

Raphael Shore is a film producer and has produced three feature documentary films for Jerusalem U. The first was the 2010 documentary Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus, which explores the proliferation of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiments on North American college campuses. The second, in 2012, was the PBS-broadcasted film Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference about contemporary Israel and its global contributions (*See http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Arts/No-small-wonder). His most recent film, Beneath the Helmet: From High School to the Home Front, is an inspiring coming-of-age film about five Israeli soldiers. All his films serve as pillars of Jerusalem U's Israel and Jewish curricula.

The Clarion Project

Raphael Shore is also the Founder and CEO of the Clarion Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the threats of Islamic extremism and providing a platform for moderate Muslim voices. His newest film, Honor Diaries, will be released March 8, 2014, on International Women’s Day. Shore's other documentaries include the critically-acclaimed Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West (seen by 30 million Americans and winner of the Best Feature Film Award at the 2005 Liberty Film Festival), The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America, and Iranium. CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, and other leading media organizations have interviewed Shore and featured his films.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Toronto.

About jerusalem u

Jerusalem U creates and distributes innovative and stimulating feature films and film-based educational programs with the goal of making young Jews feel proud of being Jewish and emotionally connected to Israel. Jerusalem U is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.